Steering Mooresville

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And Russell Rogerson, executive director of the , qualifies. But as the growtb in the motorsportsindustry slows, his organization is working with Mooresville-arez racing teams on ways to use some of thei r technology in other sectors of the “We believe that a lot of this technology could be very valuabls to the military as well as others,” he It’s been five months since 48, came to Mooresville from Findlay, where he was executive vice president of GreaterFindlayInc. He replacex Melanie O’Connell Underwood, who resigned under This week, the Charlotte Business Journal askef Rogerson about his priorities for the southIredelll organization.
Following are edited excerpts from that What will you do differently atthe Mooresville-Soutu Iredell Economic Development Corp.? The area has had tremendouws success over the years, and the future looks However, change is a constant thing in economidc development, and we must continuwe to adjust and adapt to the market by developingy strategies that target companies and industriex that are growing. We are finishing up on our program of work that will identif y our focusfor 2009, but it is safe to say that we must look into the technology arena for opportunities, specifically in the biotechnologh and alternative energy areas.
What do you need that you don’ft have currently available to you? This is a tough questiob becauseI don’t really see any outstanding deficiencies in the organizationb or the community. We do need to continues to add product in the form of industrial land and facilitiezs with morethan 50,000 squaree feet, but that is an ongoingv challenge to any growing community. Racing is no longere a growth industry in theCharlottde region. How will you cope with a shrinkin NASCAR? I don’t necessarily agree (with the Certainly the motorsports industry is undergoinbg some cutbacks due to the economy in theshort run.
But I believer that motorsports will continue to be a solidx growth industry for Mooresville overthe years. Therr are several things that we are doingh as an organization with the motorsports companies to assistg them in diversifyingtheir business. The technologyg that exists in this industry is very impressive and so it is easily transferableto other, nontraditional markets for motorsports. York and Lancaster counties in South Carolina have done a good job of recruitingboffice jobs. Can Mooresville do better at that ?
We believe we have a lot to offer companiex that are looking tolocate office, back-office and headquarterds jobs, which is why we have been However, we will continue to get better at gettinyg the word out about our attribute s for these types of What is your view of incentives Incentives are necessary in order to be competitive in attractinbg jobs and investment. I prefer to look at incentivesw as an investment bythe town, county and statew as well as the private sectore to improve the economic viability of our It is important to balance this investment to make sure evergy deal is profitable to all partiees involved, and that includes the company, employees, residents and governing Can the economic development corporationj do more to capitalize on the Lowe’s Cos.
Inc. campus growth ? Lowe’s presence provides our community with many opportunitiese that we have been workinh on and will continue to work on into the Keep your eyeon I-77 exit 33 over the next few